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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29721969">The Fizz Bomb Shop</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstroNella/pseuds/AstroNella'>AstroNella</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Your Life On Earth [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Red Dwarf (UK TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Candy, M/M, Rimmer always has a pen, Your Life On Earth, deprived childhood, sweets</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:06:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,538</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29721969</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstroNella/pseuds/AstroNella</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>For his first pick of where to visit in Your Life On Earth, Lister was expecting Rimmer to choose the site of an historical battleground or an army museum. Instead, Rimmer wants to visit a sweetshop.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dave Lister/Arnold Rimmer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Your Life On Earth [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2133927</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Fizz Bomb Shop</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Named after a sweetshop which traded briefly in my neighbourhood in the early 1980s. A child's dream and a dentist's nightmare.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lister lay on his bunk, reading a comic while he waited for Rimmer to return. Rimmer had spent two weeks browsing the Internet archive to see where he wanted to go for his first choice of destination on <i>Your Life On Earth</i>. He was expecting Rimmer to return excitedly with the news that they were going to visit a castle, or a military museum, or historic airfield. Somewhere Rimmer could indulge his would-be military organisational obsessions, getting them around the displays in precise time, making them listen to his commentary on every notable detail of the technology or uniforms. Not too long ago he would've hated the idea, but now he thought he'd quite enjoy it. </p>
<p>Lister tried to think where they might visit. He was familiar with a few likely contenders from growing up – rainy visits to a couple of castles in Wales, a virtual tour of a recreated Canadian World War II army base, and the time a girlfriend dragged him round an army museum in London while telling him her plans for a life of adventure as an army nurse. Funny how that relationship fizzled out pretty quickly back then, Lister mused, given how he was looking forward now to Rimmer doing the same as she'd tried to do. Maybe I'm getting soft in my advancing age, he thought. </p>
<p>Rimmer returned to the bunkroom, waving a printed sheet of paper. Lister sat up, setting his comic aside. </p>
<p>“You finally found somewhere then?”</p>
<p>“Yes, and it's here, and it's loading now, time for a quick spot of lunch and then it'll be ready.”</p>
<p>“So, where are we going? I've been trying to work out where you'd pick first.”</p>
<p>“It's here” Rimmer waved the paper at Lister. “It might sound silly to you, but I've always dreamed of visiting somewhere like this, ever since I was a boy.”</p>
<p>“What is it, one of those battlefield museums where you can dress up as a foot soldier?”</p>
<p>“Nope! Guess again.”</p>
<p>“A castle! I hope the weather's better than when we visited them with school.”</p>
<p>Rimmer's face fell a little – Lister had visited real castles? He'd never known. “No, one more guess.”</p>
<p>“Some military museum, then.”</p>
<p>“No, wrong again. Brimming over with wrongability.” He handed Lister the printout.</p>
<p>Lister studied the paper, not quite believing what he was reading. “Rimmer, this is a leaflet for the opening of a sweetshop.”</p>
<p>“Yes, I know. The Fizz Bomb Shop, now open on the first floor of the Pioneer Shopping Centre, Leicester.”</p>
<p>“Yeh, I just read that myself. All the places you could visit in an AR game and you choose a sweetshop? I don't get it.”</p>
<p>“I never visited sweetshops growing up, not for myself. I remember going to one a couple of times with my mother, she would buy these stripy sweets for my aunt whenever she was ill. But I never had sweets from a sweetshop.”</p>
<p>Lister's expression softened. “Aw, you didn't get any sweets growing up? That's sad, Arn.”</p>
<p>“Oh I did, occasionally. We were allowed the occasional small bar of chocolate at school, if we had earned it.”</p>
<p>“Earned it?”</p>
<p>“The best one was the bar I had in my prize bag when I came top of the school in the military history test” Rimmer explained. “I wasn't even in my final year, I was only fourteen, but I still got better marks than any of the seniors. A small bar of Captain's Original Milk Chocolate, tickets to the opening ceremony of the new wing of the military museum, a certificate, pin badge, and sew-on badge, though I didn't get to sew it on to anything. I might still have the badges somewhere, they were in my trunk when I first joined up.”</p>
<p>That made more sense to Lister. He knew Rimmer's upbringing had been more austere than his, despite growing up in a family with money. He knew plenty of kids for whom sweets and chocolate had been reserved as a special treat, or were withdrawn as a punishment. Now Rimmer was an adult, he was free to indulge in whatever treats he liked, whenever he liked. Although - </p>
<p>Lister quickly skimmed through the printout again. He was right about these places. </p>
<p>“Arn, wait a minute. Sit down.” They both sat at the table.</p>
<p>“Arn, this place doesn't sell chocolate bars. It might not sell any chocolate. Look, it says here – 'Old-fashioned traditional British sweets and the very best of American candy, alongside the latest fruit-flavoured fashions.' It doesn't mention chocolate, if you want some we'll have to go somewhere else.”</p>
<p>“It's OK Listy, I know it doesn't. It's the 'very best of American candy' I'm interested in. Like the stuff they had at Saturn Spaceport. Did you ever see them? I guess they're at a lot of spaceports. I can still see the colours now.”</p>
<p>Lister still wasn't convinced Rimmer was telling the whole truth, but he knew about American candy shops at spaceports and airports and was willing to indulge him. They would head down to the AR suite after lunch.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Lister and Rimmer found themselves walking along the first floor walkway of the Pioneer Shopping Centre. Stopping to consult a store plan on a display board, they found their destination and arrived a few moments later. They paused outside the shop. </p>
<p>“Come on, aren't we going in then Arn?”</p>
<p>Rimmer looked around, smiled at Lister, and took a step over the threshold into the shop. He stood rooted to the spot, marvelling at the shelf displays, only moving further into the shop when he felt Lister gently attempting to manoeuvre him out of the way so he could also step inside. Lister looked around, trying to follow Rimmer's gaze. </p>
<p>Rimmer walked over to the side display to look at the American candy imports. He paused next to the jellybean dispensers, picking up a leaflet and studying its guide to the flavours. </p>
<p>Lister casually strode over to Rimmer. “Which ones you gonna have?” </p>
<p>“I don't know, Listy, I want to try them all I think.”</p>
<p>“Well, get some from the end part. Look, forty assorted flavours.” Lister plucked a leaflet from the display. </p>
<p>Rimmer filled a bag full of forty assorted flavours of jellybean, paid and left the shop, with Lister following behind. </p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Rimmer led the way to the coffee shop outlet at the nearby food court, buying tea for Lister and a bottle of water for himself. Lister slumped in a seat at a table under an artificial palm tree, and was soon joined by Rimmer. </p>
<p>Opening his water bottle, Rimmer pondered aloud. “Why do you suppose it's called the Fizz Bomb Shop? How did they come up with that?”</p>
<p>Lister sipped his tea. “It's like sherbet, or popping candy. You never had those?”</p>
<p>“No, we never had those on Io. They always had popping candy at the inter-sports Halloween party, but I never tried it, I wasn't sure what it was like. I still remember the first time I had fizzy pop. I drank half a cupful in one go, burped, and it made my nose fizz. It was painful, that first time, I was only six years old. My brothers all laughed at me.”</p>
<p>“You'll be fine now. Your nose has matured. Which is more than your brothers did.”</p>
<p>Rimmer smiled, and looked down at his jellybeans and the flavour leaflet. He took a pen from his pocket. Opening the bag, he set them to the side of the table. </p>
<p>“Want to try some Listy? I'm not sure which flavour all of them are, some of them look very similar according to this leaflet.”</p>
<p>“No, you dive in. What's the pen for?”</p>
<p>“I'm going to rate them. I'm thinking marks out of ten, with additional comments.”</p>
<p>Lister decided to humour Rimmer. “Okay, which one are you starting with?”</p>
<p>Rimmer picked up a mottled red jellybean, inspecting it closely. “What do you think Listy, raspberry jam?”</p>
<p>“Could be. Try it.”</p>
<p>Rimmer ate the jellybean, savouring it slowly. “Yep. Nice. I'd say a solid eight.” He wrote '8' next to the image of the raspberry jam jellybean on the leaflet. </p>
<p>Rimmer shook the bag lightly, then fished a translucent green jellybean from the side of the bag. “This one's definitely lime.” He ate it. “OK, but I'd say a seven. More like artificial lime flavouring than actual limes.” He wrote his score on the page. </p>
<p>Lister continued to sip at his tea. He peered at the leaflet, reading upside-down. “They do some unusual flavours, don't they? I mean, why is it called Island Punch? What island is it from?”</p>
<p>“I don't know. I'm not sure if I've got any of those.”</p>
<p>“You have, there, that purpley one.” </p>
<p>Rimmer picked out the purpley one and ate it. He puzzled over its flavour, though he seemed to find it pleasant enough. “Seven.” He wrote on the leaflet.</p>
<p>Lister looked over at the bag. “So, what's next?”</p>
<p>Rimmer was still contemplating the last jellybean. “I think there might be passionfruit in that. And maybe guava.” He looked up at Lister. “What's a guava look like?”</p>
<p>“I'm not sure, Rimmer. I don't know what it tastes like, either.”</p>
<p>Rimmer sipped at his water. Momentarily lost in his thoughts, he suddenly snapped back to the task in hand, picking out a white jellybean and holding it up to the light. “Coconut.”</p>
<p>As Lister finished his tea, Rimmer worked his way through more flavours. Pineapple. Apple Pie. Tangerine (or was it Orange?). Licorice. Bubblegum. Cherry Cola. Blueberry. Latte.</p>
<p>“It's clever, isn't it Listy? How they've done all these. I wonder if they had lots of other ideas that they couldn't turn into jellybeans?”</p>
<p>“Yes, someone's obviously very inventive. Are they all sweet flavours?”</p>
<p>“Of course they are, they're sweets. What were you expecting? Curry flavour? Lager flavour? Try some.”</p>
<p>Tentatively Lister picked up a yellowish jellybean and bit it in two. He looked at the remaining half. “Hey, look, it's white inside but yellow outside. Are they all like this?”</p>
<p>Rimmer looked at the half-eaten jellybean in Lister's fingertip grip. “I think that's buttered popcorn flavour. How many out of ten?”</p>
<p>“Eh?”</p>
<p>“For the scorecard.”</p>
<p>Lister ate the second half of the jellybean, “Erm, seven and a half?”</p>
<p>“No halves. Seven or eight?”</p>
<p>“Seven.”</p>
<p>Rimmer wrote '7' down next to the buttered popcorn jellybean on the chart. Scanning over the rest of the card, he looked up. “That's nearly all of them. Just a pear and a watermelon to go.” He spotted a pear-flavoured jellybean and promptly ate it. “That's good. A nine.”</p>
<p>Lister sighed. Glancing at the bag, he saw a greenish jellybean and grabbed it. He took a bite. He'd been right, this was watermelon-flavoured – as far as watermelon had any flavour. Looking at the remaining half, he noticed its red interior and showed it to Rimmer. </p>
<p>“Look. How good is that? That's got to be a ten on visuals alone.”</p>
<p>Rimmer took the half-bean and ate it. “Not a strong flavour. All show and no go. Eight.” He wrote his last scores on the card. Finishing, he folded the card back up and laid it on the table. Lister took it up and started reading.</p>
<p>“So, you like the pear, and you don't like the licorice. Fair enough.”</p>
<p>“I don't see the point. It doesn't go. It's too strong, it leaves an aftertaste. It shouldn't be in there.”</p>
<p>Lister rummaged through the bag, looking for a licorice jellybean. He found one and ate it. “Yeh it's strong, but I like it. Some of those others would be too sweet for me.”</p>
<p>Rimmer looked at the sweets. “Well, I can enjoy these now that I've got that done.”</p>
<p>Lister was puzzled. “Why have you done this, Arn? Why not just enjoy them straight away?”</p>
<p>Rimmer looked at Lister. His face fell. He tried to explain but he realised he had no proper explanation. He'd always made notes, written everything down in a notebook or on a form or leaflet. That's why he always carried a pen. </p>
<p>“I always write it down. I always make a note. That's how you get on, Listy, learning things, being prepared.”</p>
<p>“Prepared for what? These are just sweets, you don't need to make notes, just enjoy them.”</p>
<p>Rimmer cast his eyes down at the bag of jellybeans, then suddenly looked up, looking past Lister. “No, it's alright.” He got up and headed to a brightly-coloured door seemingly in the middle of the walkway and disappeared through it. </p>
<p>Lister rose slowly from his seat, and followed Rimmer through the door. Finding himself alone in the artificial reality suite, he pressed the touchscreen button marked SAVE HERE and headed to the bunkroom. </p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Lister found Rimmer lying on his bunk, facing the wall. Lister sat on the edge of the lower bunk, tentatively placing a hand on Rimmer's hip. </p>
<p>Lister spoke softly. “You alright? Sorry, I wasn't having a go. It's just that you were all excited about shopping for sweets and you turned it into a revision session.”</p>
<p>Rimmer turned round to face Lister. “It was fun. I was just making a few notes, that's all. It's hardly astronavigation.”</p>
<p>“But you can't bring your notes out of the game.”</p>
<p>“But I can remember what they said. Pear was the nicest, followed by Latte, followed by Raspberry Jam, Apple Pie, and Watermelon.”</p>
<p>“I saved our position, we can go back another time if you like. You can have a few more Pear and Latte jellybeans and skip the Licorice ones.”</p>
<p>“Thanks Listy. See, it was worth doing it, making notes. You can have the Licorice ones if you like.”</p>
<p>Lister smiled. “I might try some other sweets, they might have some really strong popping candy. Or I might just have a cup of tea.”</p>
<p>Rimmer smiled back. He moved along in his bunk, inviting Lister to lie down with him. Lister made himself comfortable.</p>
<p>“You see Listy, I do like studying, and making notes, I always have done. It comes naturally to me, the instinct to write things down. I do try to enjoy things too, in the moment, but sometimes I get a bit lost.” </p>
<p>“What do you mean?”</p>
<p>“Like just then. Sometimes I spend too much time making notes and not enough time doing things. That's why I like it when we do things together, just us two. You know how to have real fun.”</p>
<p>“Arn, if you like writing things down, or reading about them first, and you enjoy them, that's fun. But you don't always have to do them for everything. Sometimes it makes a nice change to just try things without too much preparation. You might be surprised – in a good way.”</p>
<p>“I know you're right. It's just that I've done it so long now I just do it without thinking.”</p>
<p>“Perhaps we could go somewhere where you can't make notes for. We could go to an amusement park and go on all the scary rides. You can't write little scores down for those, you'll be too dizzy.”</p>
<p>Rimmer smiled. “So long as there are some not-scary rides too. Though I'd like to go back to the Fizz Bomb Shop like you said.”</p>
<p>Lister snuggled up against Rimmer. “So would I, Arn.”</p>
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